How to Read a Crochet Pattern

1. Glossary
   Every good pattern will come with a glossary. This is important because pattern writing isn’t standardized. If your pattern doesn’t come with a glossary, and you are a beginner, and it uses any terms other than the following, I would skip it.
   
   Here are some common terms you will see in glossaries for U.S. terms:
   
   MR = Magic Ring
   There are two ways to do this. The default and the alternative.
   SC = Single Crochet Stitch
   INC = Increase Stitch. This is when you work two stitches into one stitch. The default is the single crochet increase. Unless they write something like “HDC INC”, and just write “INC”, you can assume it is a single crochet increase
   DEC = Decrease Stitch. This is when you reduce two stitches back into one. The invisible decrease stitch is preferable for amigurumi, while the SC2Tog method is preferable for flat pieces.
   ST = Stitch
   SL ST = Slip Stitch
   HDC = Half Double Crochet
   DC = Double Crochet
   
   I have a Youtube playlist that goes over how to make these stitches, as well as individual pages on this blog walking you through them.
   

For this post, I’ll go over some really common instructions you see for amigurumi crochet patterns and how to read or interpret them.

This post will go over how to read a crochet pattern that looks like this:

1.MR SC 6 [6]

2.INC X 6 [12]

3.(SC, INC) X 6 [18]

4.(SC 2, INC) X 6 [24]

5. (SC 3, INC) X 5, INC, SC, INC[30]

The number in brackets at the end of each row are the number of stitches in the row/round. This video goes over the same information below.

1. MR SC 6 [6]

•MR = Magic Ring. There are two methods to create this – the standard one, and the alternative

•MR SC 6 = “Magic Ring Single Crochet 6” which means “crochet six single crochet stitches into the magic ring”
Advanced Tip: The Magic Ring is the name of the loop. You can crochet many different variations of stitches into this loop. For example, you might see:

•“MR SC 3” = “crochet three single crochet stitches into the magic ring”

•“MR HDC 6” = “crochet six half double crochet stitches into the magic ring”

2. INC X 6 [12]

• “X” or “*” means “multiplied by”
  
• “INC X 6”= “Increase X 6” which means “crochet an increase stitch six times”
  

3. “(SC, INC) X 6 [18]”

• “,” commas are used to tell you to separate and tell you which stitch an instruction is being done in
  
• You repeat everything inside the parentheses by the number of times indicated by the multiplication symbol (X or *)
  
• (SC, INC) X 6 = SC, INC, SC, INC, SC, INC, SC, INC, SC, INC, SC, INC
  
• Advanced Tip: Some pattern writers use brackets instead of parentheses. They function the same way.
  

4.(SC 2, INC) X 6 [24]

• SC 2 = Two single crochet stitches
  
• “,” commas are used to tell you to separate and tell you which stitch an instruction is being done in
  
• You repeat everything inside the parentheses by the number of times indicated by the multiplication symbol (X or *)
  
• “(SC 2, INC) X 6” =SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, INC

5. (SC 3, INC) X 5, INC, SC, INC [30]

• SC 3= Three single crochet stitches
  
• “,” commas are used to tell you to separate and tell you which stitch an instruction is being done in
  
• “sc, sc, sc”  means single crochet in the next stitch stitch, single crochet in the next stitch, single crochet in the next stitch
  
• You repeat everything inside the parentheses by the number of times indicated by the multiplication symbol (X or *)
  
• (SC 3, INC) X 5, INC, SC, INC= SC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC, SC, INC, SC, SC,SC, INC, INC, SC, INC